Accomarca massacre

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The Accomarca massacre occurred on August 14, 1985 in Accomarca, Ayacucho, Peru^[1]. The number of unarmed men, women and children killed has been variously reported as 47^[2], 69^[1] or 74^[3].

[edit] Investigations Into the Massacre

In 1993, Peruvian Army officer Telmo Ricardo Hurtado was convicted by the military justice system for abusing his authority and giving false statements in connection with his involvement in the massacre.[1] However Hurtado was granted amnesty by the Peruvian government and never criminally convicted of the killings.[2] When the amnesty was repealed in 2002 he fled to the United States. Whilst he was in custody for an immigration violation, two survivors brought a lawsuit against him for his role in the massacre. Their lawsuit accused the Peruvian military, who had been searching for members of the Shining Path rebel group, of carrying out extrajudicial killings, torture, war crimes and crimes against humanity.[3] In 2008, a judge ruled that Hurtado was responsible for the massacre and ordered him to pay $37 million to the victims.